Inventing Vietnam by James M Carter
This book considers the Vietnam war in light of U.S. foreign policy in Vietnam, concluding that the war was a direct result of failed state-building efforts. This U.S. nation building project began in the mid-1950s with the ambitious goal of creating a new independent, democratic, modern state below the 17th parallel. No one involved imagined this effort would lead to a major and devastating war in less than a decade. Carter analyzes how the United States ended up fighting a large-scale war that wrecked the countryside, generated a flood of refugees, and brought about catastrophic economic distortions, results which actually further undermined the larger U.S. goal of building a viable state. Carter argues that, well before the Tet Offensive shocked the viewing public in late January, 1968, the campaign in southern Vietnam had completely failed and furthermore, the program contained the seeds of its own failure from the outset.
'… his work adds an important piece of understanding to the extremely complex jigsaw which was Vietnam at the time' Asian Affairs
James M. Carter obtained his PhD from the University of Houston in 2004 and is currently Assistant Professor of History at Texas A&M University - Corpus Christi. His research specialties include U.S. foreign relations, the Vietnam War and the Cold War. His publications include several articles on nation building in Vietnam and private contractors in both Vietnam and Iraq as well as book reviews in Itinerario, The Journal of Military History, Education About Asia, and on H-Diplo. In summer, 2007, he was appointed a Fellow of the Summer Military History Seminar at West Point Military Academy.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780521888653 |
| ISBN 10 | 0521888654 |
| Title | Inventing Vietnam |
| Author | James M Carter |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| Year published | 2008-04-21 |
| Number of pages | 276 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |